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Abstract
The semantic domain of modality is notoriously difficult to define. It is associated with notions such as obligation, neces sity, probability, possibility, permission, impossibility, etc., and with grammatical categories such as indicative, imperative, subjunctive, and optative. Modal meanings are expressed by grammatical moods as well as lexical items such as modal auxiliaries, modal adverbs and modal particles. Pinning down the relationships among these multifarious expressions is bound to be a complex enterprise. Most commonly, modality is defined as a semantic category that expresses the attitude of the speaker towards the content of his utterance (e.g. Bybee, Perkins & Pagliuca 1994, 176). This definition, however, is too broad to demarcate modality from other related semantic domains such as tense and aspect in a clear and entirely satisfactory fashion. Therefore, according to Bybee, Perkins & Pagliuca, 'it may be impossible to come up with a succinct characterization of the notional domain of modality and the part of it that is expressed
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